Tired Eyes and the Three Bears for Christmas

Oh my goodness my eyes are tired... I can't believe that I'm writing this at 3am... this seems to be a theme, and not one that I'm thrilled about but since I'm doing it to myself at least partially I can't complain too horribly. So, been up for about 18 hours maybe more(idk), but so far I've been to work, gone shopping for last minute Christmas gifts, Made a Birthday dinner for my father, Done the laundry and dishes, found time to make a blog post, finished a few last minute cards and once again I'm making a post. I have to be up in just a few hours to get the Turkey ready to go into the oven and then go back to work... :( Boo, I'm tired just thinking about it.

Any who I've been practicing with my copics and I stamped out some Lili of the Valley images that I bought last year.

I liked how the layout turned out, I think it's cute enough for a woman but also plain enough for a man. The Sentiment is part of the Grunge Sentiment set by Lili of the Valley, I was so happy to receive them for my birthday this year! The main image is James Bear - Christmas Tree.

This was the first image that I colored, it was my tester but I though that it was still nice enough for a card. I learned that it takes 4 reds in the copics to get this 'Christmas' color that I have on his hat. I'll have to double check but I think they were R69, R39, R36 and R26.

Second image, I liked this one a bit better, out of the three my mother liked this one the best.

Third image, I like this one the best (the tree at least) but it took a LOT of flicking!

Thats all for now, I'll add any relevant products later. for now I'm off to sleep! Products used for these cards: Glitter paper, Kraft paper, Doily, Lili of the Valley "James - Christmas Tree" and "Christmas Grungy Messages", Ranger Liquid pearls, Color Box 'white' ink, Copics and Art Institute Glitter 'Gold'.

Challenges entered:
Lolli Lulu Crafts - Christmas Challenge Launch (naughty or nice)
Deep Ocean Challenge Blog - Challenge #93 "Christmas is all around"
Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps - A Christmas-Eve Wonderful Wednesday! - Alexis
Kit and Clowder - December Challenge :: Animals

A Birthday Card For My Brother

Hello everyone,

How was your Saturday? Being on the west coast its only just getting to 6PM here, but for many of you it's already come and gone. I'll share all about my Saturday tomorrow, but for today I have a Birthday card that I made up for my brother. And this time not only is it done early, but he will be getting it early as well- *gasp*!

So nothing to fancy, he's a guy who just doesn't see the need for that stuff. Though he does love his cats. Cats and Trains are what hes into ever since he was young. And while I would get a whole big lecture about why the train that I choose was wrong or how I should have colored it, I figured that a cat image was a safe bet!

A close up on the cat. I was coloring late at night so I ended up trying to add a weird elementary school sun. I kinda tried to fix it, I'm sure that he wont even notice. I was also using water color pencils and trying to get some shading in on the cat, I think I kinda succeeded but that can be a bit hard to do as well, you almost have to work in layers.

Last picture of it standing up. You can see that I put in a pocket for a gift card back there. I used a glassine envelop and then put paper over it to write a message on. Over all I think it worked out, though I kept wanting to add flowers or bling to it! All of the things that I used on this card were just kind of leftovers that came together from my stash, though the stamp is 'La Blanche'(? those were the only words that I could find on the stamp).
Another post tomorrow about the Art walk that was here in Gresham today, and maybe another card!

XoX ~Sarah

Challenges Entered:

Pals Paper Arts 139 - A Sketch Challenge
Dude Time Doodles Challenge - Anything Goes (For a Dude)
The Sisterhood of Crafters - Lets Hear it for the Boys
Wishcraft - Waste Not Wednesdays wk27

Tropical Snowman...

'Ello my freaky darlings!,

Lol, I couldn't resist. I only watched 'The League of Extraordinary Gentalmen' once, but that line has stayed with me and popped up at the most random times. How is everyone on this Friday evening? Big plans for the weekend? Me, I'm going to do my best to crank out some more cards and try and sew my quilt together. And somewhere in there I suppose that I'll have to go get my brother a birthday present.

Nothing too special to share today, I've been trying to make cards all week but people keep getting in the way. So today everyone was gone when I came home from work, I sat down and made a Christmas card based off of a sketch challenge. I'm all done making my card and taking a picture, then I'm looking for this challenge so I can link it up and... turns out the sketch I had was 2 weeks old! I just had to laugh! But any-who here it is...

So the paper is My Mind's Eye - Colorful Christmas, I used watercolor pencils, the Sakura 'Starbutst' (name?) pen, and some glossy accents on the image. The stamp is by Great Impressions, the snowflake border punch is Martha Stewart. I used the Elegant Scrollwork by Memory Box, and the 'Merry Christmas' (which I just thought was too cute) is by Impression Obsession.

Tip: I know that I've said it before but, all those snowflakes from the punch... SAVE THEM! I have no idea what I'll use them for but there so pretty. I'm going to make them into stickers and save them for another Christmas card or project. This is a great way to add to your backgrounds or even give them to the kids for there art projects! (and yes I love using '!' mark!)

So something new for me was using the layers upon layers of paper. I do love the effect when others do it, but for me I'm almost afraid to do that. This was one of the reason why I forced myself to do this sketch, trying to get past that fear and just create. My card was so 'top heavy' that even if I hadn't already planed on it, I just had to put paper on the inside so it wouldn't tip over.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and I'll try to post again by Sunday at the latest!

XoX ~Sarah

Challenges entered:

ATC & Cards With Attitude - Challenge 18 Anything Goes
Annabelle Stamps Blog - Say it with... Christmas
Stamping with the Dragon - Christmas in July

Baby Girl Pocket Card

Hello Everyone!

Not a whole lot to say today just sharing a card. I made this on the request of a friend, who's nephew's girlfriend just had a baby. It's kinda different for me because I didn't use a digi, or a stamp, though not for lack of trying. I have to admit that I was defeated by the image of a baby elephant! The image kept smearing, if it had worked then this would have been done on Friday. But as I was gone for the weekend, I finally admitted defeat this morning and used a butterfly punch from Martha Stewart.

Though I did not use a digi, I did print this out since I dint have a stamp.

So not much going on here. I used a flower border punch and put little gems in the middle of each flower. A scalloped circle by Spellbinders. A little rhinestone flourish. And the butterfly like I said above is Martha Stewart, I punched out 3 and layered them to give the wings some dimension. The paper is Olivia by Basic Grey. I was so happy to use this, I had bought a bunch of this a while back not knowing what I would use it for and now I finally have a card to use it on. I might end up making more of these just to have on hand or sell.

I hope everyone has a fantastic week, I'll try to get two more cards done and posted so check back if your following!

XoX ~Sarah

Challenges entered:

Stamping Scrapping Challenge Central - Bling
Make it Monday - Anything Goes

PS- it was ridiculously hard to find challenges to enter, everyone is doing Christmas in July and what not, lol!

PPS- insperation for this card came from Angie's post Sassy Wedding Garter on Yuki's Girls. Thank you so much for the insperation Angie, I was a bit lost on what to do and then I saw your card and knew that it was just what I needed!